More and more people are making purchases on the Internet via user devices such as personal computers, desktops and mobile devices. The mobile devices can include, for example, smartphones, tablets and laptops. However, one of the key problems with Internet based purchases from an online retailer is that the color of the items shown from a vendor can vary significantly from one user device to another. As a result of these color variances, a customer will end up buying an item where the color shown on the display of a user device will be different than how the item actually looks. Hence, the customer will end up returning the wrong colored item back to a vendor for an exchange or refund.
In order to show images on a web site that have accurate color as perceived by the user, calibration of the viewing device is typically required. Existing solutions include the use of hardware color calibration equipment that may be tedious to use by a lay person. In addition, these hardware calibration devices are expensive and typically used only by professionals. For casual users, this type of solution may not be acceptable due to the involved complexity and costs.
Other solutions do not use expensive hardware but show a series of patterns to the user and ask the user to adjust the settings of the display. FIG. 1 shows a monitor calibration tool 100, in accordance with the prior art. As is evident, the monitor calibration tool 100 is a time consuming and tedious way to calibrate a monitor. As such, the monitor calibration tool 100 is not likely to be used by casual users.
Moreover, while these types of solutions do not require expensive hardware, they do require the user to manually adjust the settings of their display. That is, in both of these cases, the user may have to recalibrate the display if the viewing environment changes (e.g., indoor vs. outdoor, bright versus dim, and so forth).